T0ast On Jam: Hype

Most big-budget games have a mammoth marketing department that is responsible for everything from the posters in shops to the trailers that are doled out as the game approaches release. Mostly, I have no problem with this, they spend lots money to let people know about the game and spend a few hours making trailers that show us what to expect.

Sometimes this is the difference between an instant success and something that just passes us all by. Often developers need to create hype about a game inorder to get people interested, they can’t simply rely on people just watching a trailer and liking what they see. No, developers need to make outrageous claims that promise gamers the moon when instead ‘the moon’ is a 1:1,000,000,000 scale replica in a snowglobe. This is where things go rather off the tracks.

Yes, everyone exaggerates and everyone can wonder into the hyperbole on things but there is a limit. Do not tell us that we will have an ‘experience like no other’ when the game in question is a sequel with very similar mechanics. Do not tell us that the game is epic or photo-realistic or even that it is the ultimate (insert genre here) title. Why? Because more often than not, it isn’t. I recently played Superstars V8: Next Challenge and almost gagged from laughter when I read the back of the box. It claimed to have features such as ‘photo-realistic graphics’ and ‘extreme driving experience’. Read the review to see just how on-target they were with those claims. Suffice to say a blind man could not have been further off target.

Some developers are just guilty of promising more than what can actually be delivered. Peter Molineux is a case in point. Always promising us the world but falling somewhat short of the mark, we’ll just have to wait and see which planet he promises us for Fable III. This is ironically to the detriment of the game as people are all expecting the great things promised to them by the men in suits behind podiums. Modern Warfare 2 was actually a really good game, despite the whole ‘screw online for pc, we’re gonna make it as bad as possible’ thing. What let it down was that we were expecting something that would revolutionise gaming in a thousand different ways, shoot lasers from your screen and just be the all-round bestest game ever.

Instead, it was A LOT like Modern Warfare 1, except none of it was special anymore because we had already seen it, in the prequel. If Infinity Ward had simply stood up and said “Yeah, it’s kinda just more of the same,” then people might have been ok with it. Instead, many were disappointed by the fact that Modern Warfare 2 just couldn’t live up to its hype.

A great game does not have to have words like ‘epic’ or ‘ultimate’ on the back of the box. Bioshock 2 just has some info about the game like a quick blurb on multiplayer, dual wielding etc. New IP’s don’t need flashy advertising either. InFamous simply pitches the base of the plot and gameplay to you and then it’s up to you whether you’re going to buy it or not. It doesn’t try to grab you with special buzz-words in big lettering.

Some games just end up seeming worse than they actually are because of the pre-conceived ideas that we all have about the game as a result of hype. Developers build up this awesome mental image for us and then just can’t live up to it. Uncharted 2 is one of the few games that actually lived up to its promises. It was advertised as being cinematic and beautiful and it was. Albeit, I had only completed my first playthrough of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune a week before and had only heard of the Uncharted series 1 ½ months before its release. In fact, Uncharted exceeded my expectations with just how amazing everything looked.

Some welcome exceptions to hype-down-syndrome* are God of War III (epic), Uncharted 2 (as mentioned above), Just Cause 2 (so far) and just about every mini-game that I have played to date. From Plants vs. Zombies to World of Goo, they are all as awesome and amazing as people say they are. If you have not yet played World of Goo, do so now. It’s like Portal with it’s quirky narrative and puzzle-solving but just more fun somehow.

Hype is an unpredictable beast. It can make a game seem far worse than it actually is or make a game stand out over its competitors. Some games don’t even need hype. Hype is like when a friend tells you that the burgers at a place are awesome and the best that you’ll ever feast on but when you try it, it just can’t live up to those expectations. So, while the burger may be great, it’s not the unicorn producing patty that emits a golden glow that you were expecting.

*hype-down-syndrome: when a game is made to appear worse than it actually is by not living up to its accumulated hype.